Wells Gray Action Committee
Please join the Wells Gray Action Committee (WGAC) at Spahats picnic area (10 minutes north of Clearwater) on Saturday. June 28, for an informational tour of the southern Clearwater Valley – entrance corridor to Wells Gray Provincial Park.
This event will be hosted by WGAC in response to concerns over impacts that industrial-scale logging may have on the regional economy and other values.
Canfor intends to begin logging in the Clearwater Valley later this year – about 1,000 ha of blocks are indicated to begin with.
“People need to understand that this is not a one-time thing,” said committee spokesperson Erik Milton. “It’s really just the beginning. Canfor makes no secret that it intends to return to the valley until all legally harvestable wood has been cut.”
"What the Action Committee is calling for is a moratorium on industrial logging in the Clearwater Valley until such time as all social, environmental, and economic values are properly taken into account in an open, broadly based public process. It is our position that the Clearwater Valley – entrance to Wells Gray Park – has far more value to society than just as a source of wood fibre."
Residents note that Canfor has failed to take into account the many values at stake and the increasing importance of tourism to the local economy.
"Our community needs to foster all of our economic opportunities,” said Tay Briggs, manager of the Wells Gray Park Information Centre. “We have the good fortune to live at the gateway of a completely sustainable and exportable rare commodity – the wilderness experience. Tourism brought over $20,000,000 of new money to our valley last season. How we manage the short stretch of road that connects Clearwater to Wells Gray Park will be the main factor that determines the long term economic future of this valley.”
Cathie Hickson, former research scientist for the Geological Survey of Canada, added, “The area impacted by the proposed logging is highly sensitive and contains geological features that are rare in British Columbia. Logging in the area will negatively impact the upcoming UNESCO Geopark initiative and, as a result, also sustained future economic development based on tourism in the community.”
Thompson Rivers University has run a research station in the valley for decades and is now constructing a new facility here.
TRU senior lecturer Nancy Flood, who has been teaching at the facility for years said, “Wells Gray Park and the surrounding area offer incalculable opportunities for these types of studies and the facility has the potential to be world class as a centre for research on nature and wilderness – attracting students and attention from all over the world.”
Long-time area resident Sharon Neufeld summed up local response to the issue, “Area residents are angry with Canfor for refusing to respect the terms of a forest management agreement we negotiated with the B.C. Ministry of Forests in 2000. We gave up a lot to make this land use plan work, but so far we seem to have gotten nothing but disrespect in return.”
The tour will begin at 10 a.m. sharp on Saturday, June 28 and will run until about 1 p.m. Representatives from Simpcw First Nation will open the event, followed by presentations from volcanologist Cathie Hickson, TRU Research Centre representative Nancy Flood, Wells Gray Info Centre manager Tay Briggs, woodlot owner and rancher George Briggs, and long-time Wells Gray naturalist Trevor Goward. Local resident Ellen Ferguson will MC the event.
MLA Terry Lake has kindly accepted an invitation to the event and will be in attendance. Refreshments will be served.
"This issue is far too important to be decided by the narrow interests of a single user group,” noted action committee spokesperson Erik Milton.